Ink Me Up
by L.C. blip
Summary: Aster is a popular tattoo artist, and Tooth likes to meddle. Jackrabbit


Aster loved his job. He got to put his art on people, and they loved him for it. It was what made him one of the most popular tattoo artists in the state. People would schedule their appointments nearly a month in advance! North would always ask him to personally come to the phone, or just bring it to him, when a customer asked what his schedule was like. The big man loved to aggravate him like that; he knew Aster didn't like dealing with people- just let him do his job in peace, thank you. But, that being said, he loved his friends and coworkers.

North, whom he'd met at another parlor, had convinced him to go in together for their own shop. Tiana, or Tooth, his wife, was thrilled and had called up her friend Sandy, who had gotten in touch with an old acquaintance to help out with the new place. Koz was a wonderful artist, if a little dark. They sent all their skulls and shadow work to him; his black and shaded pieces were beautifully done. Aster hated to admit it, but he and Koz were pretty evenly matched, skill wise. But while Koz couldn't color to save his life, vibrant hues is where Aster shined. His color work was near flawless, enough so that he'd been featured in a few tattoo magazines over the years.

If asked, and if he was honest, Aster would say that doing a person's first tattoo was nerve wracking. At least a little. Before he'd made a name for himself, and believed how good he was, He'd always worried whether or not the person would really like what he'd put on them. Their idea or not, sometimes people would be disappointed, sometimes it wouldn't live up to how it looked in their head and they'd be unhappy. Bing a perfectionist… it never sat well with Aster.

But he couldn't say no, not when Tooth had asked so sweetly- with the batting eyelashes and hands clasped in front of her face.

That's how he came to be opening up the shop early, nearly two hours earlier than regular, to wait for a friend who helped out with North and Tooth's brood of children. It was odd, to think about tattooing his friend's babysitter. But he owed them, much more than they asked to be repaid. You see, it was North and his wife that took out the loan to finance their shop, and they'd never asked for a cent. So if Aster could do little things like this for them, he had no qualms about it, he'd still get paid.

Aster was organizing his dyes, and generally straightening up his room when the bell tied to the door sounded, signaling his favor-appointment had arrived. Tooth had told him what her friend wanted was simple, easy enough to do in an hour or so. Just a simple flower, she'd said.

He'd walked out expecting a young lady, maybe just out of high school, but he found a young man instead. An attractive young man with dyed white hair and glacial blue eyes; a black beanie covered most of his head and his ears, and his worn blue hoodie hung loose on his slight frame. Aster did his very best to not stare at the tight, brown skinny jeans tat clung to the kid's hips and legs.

"Hey," The kid said, offering a small wave to Aster with a sheepish smile, "I'm Jack, Tooth's friend."

"Aster." He offered a hand, to which Jack accepted with a cool palm and blinding white smile. "Let's get to the room and you can tell me what you'd like. Tooth said something about a flower?'

Jack nodded in agreement as he followed, sneakers squeaking with each step, "Yeah, a snowdrop. And a snowflake too. Kinda like, the snowdrop is coming up out of the snowflake? Does that sound weird?"

Aster though for a moment, motioning for Jack to walk into his space and settle on the chair, ideas were already flying through his mind on how he could make the image come to life and be perfect for Jack. He nodded to the boy on the chair and settled at his desk. "Not at all, I've been asked much worse. It sounds whimsical, actually."

He heard Jack sigh behind him and smirked, silly kid was nervous. "So, is there a reason you're choosing those? Doesn't seem like a spur of the moment thing, if ya ask me."

Aster listened as he scribbled on his pad; as Jack talked, he learned that the young man had actually put a lot of time into thinking about this tattoo idea. Jack told him about having a few really tough years, never going into too much detail other than a passing in the family and a bad break up. His heart went out to the kid; Aster was intimately familiar with loosing people- family and lovers. It was something you'd never truly forget, but it did get easier to deal with… after time. Jack went on to explain that he'd always loved snowdrops, and snow in general. Once he'd learned the meaning of the tiny flower "It just felt right." He said.

The image for Jack's tattoo clicked in his mind almost violently. Of course! Snowdrops were a symbol of hope! And most people viewed winter as harmful and dangerous, people got lost in the winter time- wandering off by themselves, many weren't found again until the ice began to melt as spring began to thaw it. Snowflakes were innocent, the beautiful part of winter. And snowdrops meant hope. Jack was essentially putting 'Have hope, even in the darkest of times' on his body to make him remember that he'd come out on top of whatever problems he'd been facing. It was a beautiful ideal.

One Aster was truly looking forward to.

"That's beautiful, Aster."

The whispered statement had snapped him out of his trance. Jack stood hunched over his shoulder, staring in awe at the image Aster had conjured. It was one of his better works, he'd admit- with sharp lines and intricate patterns making up a near perfect rendition of a snowflake, and rising from the middle was an innocent, delicate cluster of snowdrop flowers, sparkling with dew.

He huffed, internally scowling at the rush of pride he felt at Jack's words, and stood with his sketch. "Thanks, mate. Where are we puttin' this?"

Jack patted the front of his hip, pointing from a few inches below his pant line to just below his bellybutton. "I'd like it to go here, about this size. But I'm not sure I have enough to cover that large an area. How much would three hundred get me?"

Aster scoffed and made his way over to the stencil machine. Three hundred dollars wouldn't even cover half that area, not with the details and intricacy of the piece, not to mention the color he wanted to add to it. But Jack was a friend of Tooth's, and… Aster liked him. So he waved him off.

"Three will be fine, Jackie. Just hop up there and let me get this stenciled."

"Kinky." Jack whispered as he settled back against the leather cushions of the chair, no doubt noticing the mirror on the ceiling. Aster had installed it, figuring people would like to watch what was going on while they waited for him.

Once finished, Aster turned to find Jack cradling his hands over his stomach, feet swaying back and forth as he looked pointedly at the ceiling. Aster settled next to the chair, bringing his rolling stool to him with a foot, and placed the stencil gently onto his equipment table. He glanced at Jack before hooking his fingers into the waistband of Jack's pants.

"Unbutton those for me, Jack, so we can place it where you want it." And geez did that sound awful. Thankfully Jack hadn't seemed to notice his horrid choice of words, as his hands fumbled with the clasp on his jeans. Taking pity on the jittery young man, Aster patted his hands away and went about unbuttoning Jack's pants himself. It was not something he liked to do to his customers, much preferring for them to do this themselves, but the traitorous part of his mind that seemed to notice everything about the boy whispered that Jack was blushing… And was that his lip he was biting? Aster clenched his jaw to ignore his hormones and pulled gently at Jack's pants.

"Lift your hips for me."

Jack bowed his back to lift them into the air so Aster could quickly shimmy them down. He really did try not to notice how the boy's abs became more prominent as he shifted, or how the trail of dark hair got thicker the lower his pants got. "Think this will be far enough?" He asked, resting his hands at Jack's hips, and smiled at the jerky nod.

Aster methodically washed his hands, and lathered them with hand sanitizer and snapped on his gloves. Next came his tools: Tattoo machine, assortment of needles, cups for his colors, paper towels for excess ink, and finally- which oddly enough would be used first- a razor and antibacterial hand soap.

He lathered up the bar and ran his hands over Jack's hip and abdomen, explaining that this would help keep things from getting infected, and help with standing all the tiny hairs up. He swept the razor over his customer's skin up and down and side to side to get as close a shave as he could. The last thing he wanted was to imbed a hair into Jack and it get infected.

With that done, he placed the stencil with the utmost care before smoothing it over Jack's pale skin and tucking a dental bib into his waist band. Aster scrutinized the layout before turning to Jack. "What do ya think, Jackie?" He asked.

Jack swept his eyes over the purple outline and grinned. "This is gonna be so awesome! Let's get started, man!"

The two men chuckled as the artist settled onto his stool and chose his needle for the outlining, and placed it on his work table after confirming that it would work smoothly. Next he filled an ink cup with black and turned to Jack and smiled. Aster hadn't missed the way those blue eyes followed his every move. He knew the young man was nervous, even if he was excited.

Aster smiled and turned on the machine, letting Jack get used to its buzzing before patting the young man's stomach. It's gonna feel like a bunch of little ant bites, hold still for me."

He started the outlining, forcefully keeping his hand steady as he inched up along the stencil, he winced at Jack's hiss of pain, murmuring "Even breaths, mate. Nice and even."

Buzzz-wipe. Buzzz-buzzz-wipe.

"This yer first tat, Jack?" He asked, learning early on that people relaxed as they talked. Jack, he found, was no exception.

"Yeah. I've been thinking about doing this for almost a year and a half, but I didn't know the first thing about getting one. None of my friends at the university have any- so they couldn't really give me any advice. And I ended up talking to Tooth about a few weeks ago when I was watching her kids and she told me about you and how great you are, and how perfect you would make it look. So I asked her about your schedule, 'cause you're really popular, and she told me she could get me in without an appointment, which is totally awesome because you're booked until the end of next month-"

Aster laughed and paused in his work. "Breath, Jackie. It's alright." He placated, thumb rubbing soothing circles onto the skin of Jack's stomach as he continued his line work. "What are ya studying in school?"

"Um- early childhood education." Jack explained, wincing. "I want to work at an elementary school, or maybe a daycare when I graduate. I'm on the list as a sub for a few schools in the county, so I've at least got my foot in the door."

"That's great." Aster said, trying not to sound like he was half listening as he focused on the sloping lines of the snowdrop. "You said you had a break up, seeing anyone new yet?"

"Not- Not really. I haven't exactly been actively looking. But maybe? I might have met somebody?" Jack stuttered and clenched his hands over his chest, giving Aster plenty of room to work. He glanced up and saw the pink on Jack's cheeks and silently gave himself a thumbs up. Maybe Jack wouldn't be so averse to being flirted with, maybe he swung both ways.

"Oh yea? What are they like?" Yes, Jackie, share with the class, he thought.

"Well, I really don't know them- like at all. But we have a mutual friend who thought we would be good together."

Aster smiled as he sat quietly, working his needle over the last bit of the flower's outline. "Match-makin' is always fun. I bet they'll fix ya right up."

Jack hummed an "I hope so." and stayed silent for the rest of the line art.

With the black of the flower finished, Aster wiped up the area as best he could and rinsed out the ink cup and removed the needle from his machine. "Alright, mate. Snowdrop's outlined. I was thinkin' about doing the snowflake in a light blue. I know it won't show up as well, and I'll be adding some blue to the white, to help it stand out a bit. Would that be alright?"

"Yeah, yeah that would be great." He nodded, taking a deep breath.

Aster chuckled and turned to grab a different needle, a bigger size to help the ink take to the pale skin and another cup to mix the white and blue. He nodded as Jack motioned with his hand to the rest of the shop and watched him hobble out. Aster would bet money the kid was in the bathroom, taking a piss and admiring his unfinished tattoo.

Jack squeaked back into the room and hopped back into his seat, once again lifting his hip and shoving down his pants. Aster watched, imagining what Jack would look like splayed out on his bed doing that… but quickly dispelled it. It was improper to think that way while he was tattooing the young man. No matter how alluring the fantasy was.

"Get out all that nervous energy, mate?" He asked, beginning with the white of the snowflake. He was only going to do the outer portion in white, and use a tattoo pen to draw in the pattern he wanted. That way he could use different hues of blue and white to get it as close to real as he could. Thankfully he still had some photos of macro-photographed snowflakes.

"Probably not." Jack snickered. "My roommate always says that the only way I'll get rid of my energy is to have it fucked out of me." Jack paused and tensed. "I'm so sorry- I didn't mean to say that!"

Aster laughed and shook his head, even as he fought an internal nose bleed. "It's fine, Jack. That's one of the best ways to use it up, yeah? I'd rather have a rough bout of sex that go to the gym every day."

He grinned at Jack's groaned "Oh, God." as the kid covered his face with his hands. Aster let his stew with that information as he completed the white-blue outline and changed his needle again to begin his shading. He paused, thinking. With what he wanted to do, as far as color went, it would take longer than what he'd like. Jack had already been in the chair for over an hour- glancing at the clock he had nearly forty-five minutes before he was set to open.

"Alright, Jackie. I think that's all I can do for today. I don't want to start colorin' ya until I have a slot to where I can finish it. That ok?" Aster asked, taking a damp towel and cleaning the excess ink off of Jack's skin and then dressing it with clear cling wrap and tapping it.

"Sure, that's fine. When can I come back?" He asked, sitting up.

Aster thought… he didn't have any openings that would be flexible enough to work around. Instead he handed over his phone after he shucked his gloves. "Put yer number in, I'll call when I have a set time."

Jack nodded and typed in his number and pulled out his wallet. "Here's the three hundred. I can't wait to finish it." He flashed Aster another bright white grin as he walked out the door with a wave.

"Neither can I." Aster said to the empty shop.

Koz was the first to arrive when Aster flipped on the 'Open' light in the window. He slinked in with hunched shoulders and dark glasses before flopping into his flat-laid chair. He curled up into a ball and growled as Aster rolled over to him.

"Late night, mate?"

"Go. Away."

Aster laughed and leaned onto his knees. "C'mon, Koz. What happened? Where's the post Brit that we know and love?"

"Piss off, rabbit. I'm in no mood for your humor this morning." Koz snarled and kicked out with his leg, sending Aster rolling away in a fit of giggles.

"Technically, limey, it's two in the afternoon." Aster grinned as he walk-rolled back to the side of the chair. "Seriously though. You right?"

Koz sighed and rubbed his face, pushing his sunglasses up and onto his head. "I'm fine, Aster. I just tried to out drink Sanderson."

That made the other man burst with a loud, barking laugh. "Out drink him? Only North can do that! Why would you do something so stupid?"

"I realize my lapse in judgement now, thank you." He hissed, and paused, looking pensive. "If I ever try that again, please punch me in the face."

"Gladly." Aster replied.

He rolled back to the front counter to leaf through the appointment book. It looked like he had five people coming today. That was relatively easy. Two of the names he recognized as repeat customers, and that always made him smile. One woman wanted a heart with a picture of her dog in it, while the man wanted to touch up the color on a large patch, most likely a back or sleeve piece. The other three slots were relatively bare, which was sometimes unnerving. It usually meant that they didn't know what they wanted, or didn't care what they got. Both were poor reasons to get inked in his opinion. Aster preferred people who put thought into their tattoos, loved bringing to life something that was important to the person. Like Jack.

Now here it was, six in the evening, and he'd been thinking about the boy all day. He'd run through multiple ways he'd like to color the young man's tattoo, sometimes leaning for simple innocence, with muted greens and blues with just the barest hints of white on the petals, to vibrant splotches of color resembling water paints. He couldn't decide.

He did decide, that Tooth had all of this planned out. Though, to what extent he didn't know, and would preferably like to never find out. He pointedly refused to bring up his appointment with Jack earlier that day, and he could tell by the pointed glances that eventually lead to lingering gazes that Tooth was itching for him to spill the beans.

At eight o'clock that evening, when he broke for dinner he gave in and invited her to get food with him. Her attempt at acting smooth, and not at all interested was cringe worthy at best, but Aster just shook his head fondly.

"Alright, Toothie. Out with it." Aster prompted after their waitress dropped off their drinks and took their order.

"How did it go today? With Jack." She said in a rush, like it was a physical relief to finally say it out loud.

"It went fine. We got his outlining done, and I told him to come back when I have an open slot so I can start on the coloring. You know how I get when I start, I don't like to leave things unfinished."

"That's great, Bunny. But did you two get along? Were you nice to him?" She scowled, like he wasn't nice or friendly to anyone.

"I take offense to that. I was a perfect gentleman. Even when I pulled his pants down." He smirked and waited. This would be good.

And it was.

Tooth gaped at him like a fish out of water before turning furious. "You did what?! You- If you had sex with him in our place of business I will rip your- Stop laughing you complete bastard!" She whisper-shouted at him, hands fisted on the edge of the table. Her eyes burned as she glared at Aster. "I can't believe you would do that to me! What the hell, Bunny?"

"Serves you right for trying to play match-maker. Why did you send that kid my way? He can't be more than nineteen." He scoffed. He had nothing against twinks, had even loosely dated a few in the past, but they'd never wanted anything serious so Aster had resigned to keep the 'relationship' just about sex.

The waitress returned, bringing with her their meals. She asked if everything was ok, if they needed anything else, and refilled their drinks and left again.

Tooth grabbed her silverware and unrolled the napkin, "He's twenty-three. And he's a good person. I think you two would be great."

"He's nearly a decade younger than I am. How can you think we'd work?" Aster scoffed, scarfing down a bite of his food.

"Mm." Tooth hummed, "You've dated guys younger than him before. Remember Cory?"

"That wasn't dating, that was fucking. All of the young man I 'dated' we just for sex. It's all they wanted." They didn't even want that once he'd made it clear he wouldn't be supporting them, he thought bitterly.

"Jack's not like that, though! He's sweet, and funny-"

"I know that, Tooth. He was fun. We had fun while I was working on him, but he told me about a bad break up- didn't give any details, but that usually means a red flag." Not that Aster wanted to think of Jack as a crazy significant other, he certainly didn't seem like it. But you could never really tell with some people.

Tooth regarded him with a scrutinizing stare before leaning forward. "The bad break up was an abusive one. Jack left the guy after he broke his wrist, almost two years ago. They dated for nearly three; high school sweethearts is what he told me."

"So why would he want to be with someone who looks like they could break him in half?" Aster questioned, motioning to himself. It was nothing new to Tooth how he looked, with his own ink winding up his arms and legs, along his spine and shoulders. His reputation at the gym wasn't anything to scoff at either, as were his ribbons for competitions completed victoriously. Aster looked like he belonged in prison, not by the side of a sweet looking boy like Jack.

"He saw the picture I took the Halloween before last. Where you, North and Koz went with Annie as the Wizard of Oz, remember? We dressed Phillip as one of the flying monkeys?"

Aster smiled at the memory; it had been a fun night, even though little Annie had wanted to sing 'Over the Rainbow to every house they stopped at. And 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road' as they walked to the next. She had an amazing memory for a six year old.

"He asked about you, and it just kind of escalated. I kept seeing him look at the picture, and he would ask about you every now and then… He thinks you're attractive. Annie only helped your case when she told him you played 'Tea Party' with her whenever you'd visit. You know you're her favorite uncle." Tooth smiled back at him. She sighed and stared down at her food, picking at it with her fork. "He's been through a lot in the last year or so, and come out even stronger than he was before. I just wanted him to be happy, well… happier than he is now. He always has a smile for the kids… Even if he doesn't have one for himself."

And damn. How could he say no to that? Aster paused, thinking. He didn't know if a relationship would be best right now; both he and Jack had a good deal on their plates right now- Jack with school, and himself with his work. But damn if he didn't want to see Jack again. And soon.

"I won't make any promises…But I really would like to get to know him better."

Tooth squealed and bounced in her seat as she enthusiastically thanked him.

Aster was thrilled when, two and a half weeks later, he had a cancelation. He'd grinned as he hung up the phone and dug his cell out of his jeans. Flicking through it, he found Jack's number and eagerly pressed the call icon.

It rang once before Jack picked up with and anxious "Hello?"

"Jackie, it's Aster. Got a cancelation. How soon can you get here?"

Aster bloomed on the inside when he heard the smile in the younger man's voice. "I'll be there in ten."

Jack laughed at Tooth's scowl when Aster hooked his fingers into his waist band to inch down his pants down again. His amusement was short lived when Aster voiced "C'mon, Toothie. How many chances am I gonna get to pull his pants down?" Aster had smirked at him as he said it, fully aware of the flush over taking the younger man's face.

"Maybe more than you'd think." Jack had whispered to him as he lay back onto the chair, his own victorious smirk in place at Aster's matching blush.

"Careful, now. Don't tease about that." Aster winked and buzzed his machine to get started.

He shaded the snowdrop first, with delicate greens and yellows, going twice over the petals to give them a bright white, leading them to almost glow on Jack pale skin. Aster had taken a chance this go around, settling on the opposite side of Jack so he'd be able to lean over onto the boy's lap to work. It was a blatant move to have more contact, he knew, but Jack made no move to kick him off, so Aster made no obvious mention of it. He happily leaned on Jack, resting his arms on the kid's thighs and stomach.

He worked methodically, like every other time, but he put much more attention into the blending of colors, instead of trying to keep pace to finish. Everyone in the shop threw glances at the two of them, no doubt to smirk knowingly at the pair. Tooth had shot her mouth off as soon as they'd gotten back from dinner that night.

"So…" Jack murmured, brushing his slender fingers along Aster's arm. "Mind telling me why everybody's been staring over here since I got here?"

"No idea." Aster scowled. How was he supposed to make a move if everyone was scrutinizing him?! No pressure, right guys… Complete asses, the lot of them.

The cool fingers softly pinched the skin of his arm. "Liar. C'mon, Bun-Bun." Jack nudged. "I'm sure it can't be that bad."

"Well, probably not. But whatever it is, it's got nothing to do with them." He evaded with a smirk at Jack's pout. Aster retaliated and pinched the skin of Jack's lower abdomen, right above the line of his pants. "Keep still, snowbird."

"Or what?"

Oh, so that's how it's gonna be. The kid was going to question him, huh? He shifted, keeping his face neutral as he fought to grin triumphantly. Jack was sporting a chub under his arm. "Or I'll bend ya over my knee."

The growing bulge in Jack's pants jumped, as if in agreement of that plan of action.

Aster watched as Jack stood in front of the full length mirror they kept in the back, for privacy. He'd finished just as Jack was beginning to grit his teeth in constant discomfort, and now he was nervously waiting for the kid's feedback.

Jack turned and stretched and leaned and took deep breaths, assessing the work from every angle. And then he just stopped. Stopped moving, barely breathed. Just looked. He stood so still, and just raked his eyes over the work of absolute art that was now set into his skin forever.

It was breathtaking.

He turned then and wrapped a surprised Aster up into his arms and squeezed as he tucked his head under the older man's stubbly chin.

"It's perfect, Aster. It's so perfect."

Aster smiled softly into white hair and wrapped his own arms around Jack, holding him close.

"I'm glad you like it, Jackie."

"Bunny, I need another favor." Is how his morning started.

God he was going to block her number. How does he keep getting into this? Why does she always call him? How many more friends can she possibly have that want tattoos?! Just one morning!

It had been two weeks since finishing Jack's snowdrop and snowflake, and he'd barely spoke to the kid. It had felt awkward to text, and he didn't feel like he knew Jack well enough to just call him up out of the blue. What would he say if he did, anyways? 'Hey kid, got any more ideas so I can ogle you without your clothes on?' It was getting embarrassing, his pining.

He slammed open the door to the shop, and stalked over to his station to aggravatingly throw his supplies around in an angry huff. He continued to grumble under his breath, actually cursing out loud as the bells jingled. His morning ruiner had arrived. Maybe if he ignored them they'd go away.

"Hey, Bun. I was told you've been pouting."

Jack.

Aster flung himself around to stare at the young man who'd been haunting this thoughts and dreams. He stood, leaned against the front counter with a too smug smirk on his face.

"I thought for sure you'd ask me out, but you never did. You didn't even contact me at all." He said with a put on pout. It made his lips puff out adorably. As an afterthought, Aster mused it would be truly difficult to refuse any request if Jack ever used that face to ask for something.

"I- I didn't… Would ya believe I was scared?" He tried with a sheepish shrug of his shoulders.

Jack laughed and sauntered over to settle in Aster's lap. "I can buy that." He said. "Tooth had me come here. She told me not to leave until we schedule a date."

Aster looked at the clock and then back to Jack, who fit perfectly into his space.

"How does an early lunch sound, Jackie?"

"Perfect."

End.


End file.
